a pHotogRapHic YEar in REview

Two Thousand Thirteen 2  0  1  3  
what can I say…it was a wonderful year. Here’s a year in review, photo style.

(and if you click on the photos, it should take you to more photos)

photos by Keith Martin

The Bluebird Reading Series started off strong in '13 with the first reading of the year featuring Corrie Greathouse, Melissa Alvarado, Peggy Dobreer, and Bonnie S. Kaplan!!

We then welcomed guest hosts Hinchas de Poesia who brought in Billy Burgos, Bojan Luis, Yago Cura and Annette Cruz. 

photo by Keith Martin

And who can forget the reading with Brendan Constantine, Mandy Kahn and Ryan Nance…it’s the one that launched Chiwan Choi into retirement!! 

And we kept going strong in April with Abel Salas, Iris de Anda, Mike "the Poet" Sonsken and Neil Aitken!! 

And April showers brought very early flowers...by way of Poesia Para La Gente. This was the month Kathy Gallegos of Avenue 50 Studio handed me the Poesia Para La Gente baton. I went running. I was told we needed to organize two events by the end of the year...my response was, "That's it?"

The first reading was at Guerrero's Produce.

We didn't have a Bluebird Reading in May. For my second try at Poesia Para La Gente I decided to team up with IDEPSCA at the Home Depot! 

And as a side note, I'm excited to be working with IDEPSCA's day labor program once again in early 2014, stay tuned for details! 

And here's a video of Leonso "El Revolucionario" Martinez reading his poem, ¡Benditas tus manos mamá!

The Bluebird Reading was back in June. Who better to welcome summer than these four magical women of words; Gloria Alvarez, Karineh Mahdessian, Tara Trudell and Kim Young...You can read about it HERE. 

photos by Luke Gattuso

And June was when we rolled out our Poesia Para La Gente - METRO STYLE! You can read about it here, or check out a video shot on location. 

Of course, June being the month of the lady Bluebirds, we couldn't forget about the men. But.... in July I had this musical awakening of sorts, and I realized that we had to start experimenting a little more. I invited Anthony Miller of Black Clock to do his childhood-angst-Bowie prose experiment, and joining him were Jack Cooper, D.M. Collins of LA Record and Neil McCarthy. 

On August 4th we had another little Metro style Poesia Para La Gente. This one was small, we  brought someone with us who ended up writing this little article. 

...and then there was the following weekend.

most photos by Luke Gattuso

On Saturday there was this. Earlier in the year I was invited to curate the 3rd edition of the Cypress Village Tunnel Art Walk. From the photos and the article you can tell it was a wild venture...art, music, poetry, community, good people. What else is there in life?! 

And then Sunday Wyatt Underwood, Michael C Ford, V-Kali, Rolland "Vachine" Vasin shared beauty and memories with us. One of my favorite Bluebirds of the year. August was a busy month...

photos by Luke Gattuso

photos by Luke Gattuso

Did I say August was a busy month? No. September September September! September was beautiful. 

An amazing Saturday of Poesia on the Metro once again, one last time for the year, and then the DT LAB•FEST put together by Writ Large Press. A full Saturday had me stumble into Avenue 50 Studio on Sunday half-dazed to welcome Mariano Zaro, Melinda Palacio, Audrey Kuo, Cara Van Le and our special guest feature from Texas, Detrick Hughes to September's edition of the Bluebird Reading. By the end of the afternoon I was blown away by the weekend, a beautiful sampling of a literary Los Angeles that has inspired me to reach for ideas that only exist in other galaxies. 

2014 is gonna be amazing! 

I wrote a little something on October's Bluebird, featuring Hector Tobar, Amanda Yates Garcia (with Mark So), Joseph Lapin, Abel Salas and our special guest open mic feature Ashley Karr, live from Scotland (via Google Hangout). Writing this review reminds me of just how much talent there is in this city, and I'm only writing about two readings! 

Poesia Para La Gente was a little different this time around. The good folks at Lit Crawl invited us to join them for the inaugural Los Angeles event in NoHo in October. It was fun, and I'm looking forward to working with them in '14! 

There wasn't a November Bluebird but of course, Poesia Para La Gente was back in full swing. We did something very different this time, you can read the breakdown I wrote, and you can also read an article on La Bloga.  We also launched Libros Para La Gente. Stay tuned for details on the next couple of Poesia Para La Gente's. Next up on the agenda is fashion...

And there really was no better way to close out the year of Bluebird Readings at Avenue 50 Studio than to welcome Rich Ferguson, Brynn Saito (all the way from San Francisco!) and Rachelle Cruz, and to experience the thought-provoking Butoh performance by dancer/poet Khadija Anderson, in this intimate space.

I'd also like to thank all of those who made the Great Beyond at Beyond Baroque such a delightful experience! Daniel Chacon, Melinda Palacio, Carolyn Ziel, Éireann Lorsung, Ryan Nance, Conney Williams, Adriane Shown, Melissa Alvarado, Nicole Strafaci, Jack Cooper, Neil McCarthy, Michael C Ford, Billy Friday, Beverly Collins, Stephen Lindow...the list goes on and on...

I've met so many amazing people this past year, new-lifelong friendships and literary partnerships. I'm thankful for every single person who has stepped into Avenue 50 Studio for a Bluebird Reading, who has come out to a Poesia Para La Gente event, and who has trekked the distance to Beyond Baroque for the Great Beyond Readings. All of this is not without the occasional headache, stress and/or doubt. There's no money to be made, there's no big dream of changing the world, and there's definitely no guarantee that we'll be able to do this forever. But we're doing it. Right now. Because we're artists...all of us...and this is just what we have to do. I hope that in 2014 we at Avenue 50 Studio can continue to help provide an outlet for more people to discover, and maybe nurture, their creative instincts. Lots of ideas are in motion, and I hope you can stay with us on this journey...it's gonna get interesting! 


And join us for the 1st Bluebird Reading of 2014 as we welcome 
Daniel Chacón
Wendy C. Ortiz
Verónica Reyes
Scott Schultz (w/ his one-note  musical accompaniment)

MORE DETAILS HERE!!!